Gavin is a digital strategist and advisor. He has led new venture startups for organisations like PwC, developed digital strategy and execution for global brands on both the agency and client sides, and spent some time as an analyst in digital transformation for award winning analyst and advisory firm, Constellation Research.

He is the founder of the Disruptor’s Handbook – an un-Agency that brings startup culture to the challenge of digital transformation and works with clients to help them see opportunity in disruptive technologies and business models. In his limited spare time he serves as president of youth organisation, Vibewire.

We have seen some remarkable changes in the landscape of work. Looking back, these changes seem small, but each contributed to a growing momentum, which when added together, provide a clear path to where we are today and where we are heading. Let’s take a look at some of these.

Some years ago, while working at SAP, I was involved in a global workforce enablement program. Our challenge was to look ahead to 2015 (yes, we are now almost there), model the future demand for software, services and skills and put in place programs that would ensure there were enough skilled and experienced SAP practitioners available to deliver to the expected demands of our customers. What we realized was that learning could no longer be seen as a single event.

For decades, technology has driven business innovation, resulting in the rise of professional services firms, technology companies and most recently, software platforms. Until the early 90s, we designed systems around single business functions – like purchasing or order management.

When I attend a conference, view a video or see a presentation, I look for something that is going to set my heart ablaze and send my mind wheeling. I wonder where I will be taken or how I will be surprised. Dan Pink’s book, To Sell is Human, explains the formula deployed to great success by Pixar. It goes something like this.

I greet the release of Twitter Analytics with a smile AND a shrug. It’s an attempt at monetising without an ecosystem vision. And it is an affront to the users who have invested not just in the platform (Twitter, LinkedIn and yes Facebook too), but in the ecosystem as well.